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Shoots and Ladders
tf - Wednesday, May 21, 2014, 6:59 PM ------------------------------------- <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Uh...hey Dinobots." <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock say Dinobots smash Decepticons! Me want Imager tell us where Decepticons is!" <'Autobot'> Scorch says, "Leave him Hubcaps alone and comes smash septicons." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Erm....I...*fumbles*" Dubai(#2221Ten) This tiny emirate of the UAE is a shining city of the future. Tall neon skyscrapers fill the cityscape of what was once a small, isolated area. In the years since the Battle of Autobot City, Dubai has continued to expand, becoming a bustling, extravagant cityscape. Several enormous skyscrapers glow in various colors, and in unusual designs of architecture's brightest creators. Needless to say, two of these mammoth, neon buildings were designed by Grapple himself! Contents: Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'>(#3882) Snarl(#1450) Scorch(#5290) The Dinobots are in the Middle East, as part of some supposed publicity tour...which didn't work at all. Some wealthy industrialist had the idea as follows "We have oil. Oil is made from dinosaurs, sometimes. There are Dinobots. Dinobots use oil. PROFIT" So what he didn't take into account was the nature of the great heroes of the Autobot forces, and their restless nature. Ignoring staff, doing as they pleased, and bored out of their gourds perhaps. It was actually a relief for all involved when screams from downtown Dubai were heard. An enormous, thundering tremor shakes the very ground under the thunderlizards, even from that distance away. Helicopters take flight, police cars scream by, sirens wailing, and chaos reigns. A powerful energy beam streaks through the sky twice, from on high, a telltale sign of trouble, of Decepticons...of fun. Director Mammet, of the PR department for Nucleon Oil, is in a tither, sweating from the sheer frustration of trying to cajole Dinobots. As another tremor occurs, he looks at the Dinobots, the downtown skyline and throws his papers up into the air, "Alright, I give up. This junket is over. Go...do..." He waves his hand dismissively before returning it to his hairline. "What you guys want to do..." The Dinobots are in the Middle East, as part of some supposed publicity tour...which didn't work at all. Some wealthy industrialist had the idea as follows "We have oil. Oil is made from dinosaurs, sometimes. There are Dinobots. Dinobots use oil. PROFIT" So what he didn't take into account was the nature of the great heroes of the Autobot forces, and their restless nature. Ignoring staff, doing as they pleased, and bored out of their gourds perhaps. It was actually a relief for all involved when screams from downtown Dubai were heard. An enormous, thundering tremor shakes the very ground under the thunderlizards, even from that distance away. Helicopters take flight, police cars scream by, sirens wailing, and chaos reigns. A powerful energy beam streaks through the sky twice, from on high, a telltale sign of trouble, of Decepticons...of fun. Director Mammet, of the PR department for Nucleon Oil, is in a tither, sweating from the sheer frustration of trying to cajole Dinobots. As another tremor occurs, he looks at the Dinobots, the downtown skyline and throws his papers up into the air, "Alright, I give up. This junket is over. Go...do..." He waves his hand dismissively before returning it to his hairline. "What you guys want to do..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbYfvisXJBI Snarl was bored before he even agreed to this. And by "agreed", we mean "packed up on a boat while asleep". Snarl woke up in a land filled with sun, sand, jabbering noise meatbags, other Dinobots, and confusion. It's probably not too surprising then that Snarl has been behaving surly about the entire affair. Then again, Snarl is always surly. Then, flashing lights! Snarl hates flashing lights. He also hates, in no particular order, Susan Sarandon, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Gears. So, with the fury he provides to Susan Sarandon movies, the massive war machine shaped like an anatomically incorrect extinct animal lurches forward towards the vague threat on the horizon with a war cry. Actually, it's more like a war grunt. Snarl's not very verbal, you see. It's no surprise really at all that Grimlock has been stomping around in dinosaur form, after all, the kids absolutely love it! He'd perked up when the ground shook and the boom echoed from downtown. He'd stuck his head right out the window of the convention hall they were in at the time, shattering the window in the process and craning his head back towards the city, looking curiously at the source of the noise. He hadn't really been paying much attention to Mammet most of the trip, except to repeat when introduced to various dignitaries that, 'Me Grimlock REAL KING!' For some reason no one has so far chosen to argue the point. As Mammet finally gives up, Grimlock swivels that huge head back and down towards him. "Me Grimlock not need Mammet permission! But glad Mammet know what Dinobots really here for!" he says as he stomps suddenly away from the man. Of course he doesn't use the door..its like, twenty whole feet out of his way. No, he stomps right through the wall he had just knocked the window out of, shrugging the rubble off carelessly as he goes. Scorch is tromping down a street having grown tired of the humans blabbering on and on about oil and other such nonsense. As police cars race about and aircraft buzz he grumbles and tries to find a nice spot to relax. Only a short distance along the stops and starts pushing his way through the traffic that is trying to leave the area. Miraculously he only crushes three cars in his push towards an open area where he decides to rest...by sitting in the back end of a box truck, which of course bottoms out under his weight. <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Miss Imager lady, someone smashing big sandy city place. Us Dinobots going to smash them for smashing things!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Well then I pity anyone out there. I'm sorta on Cybertron...*aside* IS ANYONE ON EARTH TO KEEP THE DINOBOTS FROM DESTROYING A CITY?" <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock make sure city okay! (I'm helpful!)" <'Autobot'> Snarl says, "Me Snarl not destroy city. Me Snarl destroy sections between city and enemy only. Me Snarl am tactical." Investigating the scene is anything but hard. Find out where the screaming people are going, and go the opposite way. Cars start blocking the streets as people hopelessly run through the streets. "Oh gods! It's Godzilla! We're Doomed!" One pedestrian cries upon viewing the Dinobots. She stands there, horrified, and unable to move. A man with glasses grasps ahold of her, "That's not Godzilla, That's a Dinobot!" The woman's mood changes from horrified to terrified. "Oh gods! It's Dinobots! We're Doomed!" And with that, they start to run like their hair is on fire down a side street. An energy blast craters the street before the Dinobots, which directs their attention upwards.... A large building must be being built down here, the framework of it, all rivets and wide flanges (what you savages call I-Beams), carries itself up to the skyline. Green is hinted at for a moment, before an explosion occurs, sending a helicopter spinning out of control. The occupants hit their parachutes as the chopper is hit, and start to float down towards Earth. One waxes in relief, "Good thing, GI Joe builds all ejection seats nowadays, huh?" After a primal, powerful roar is heard from atop the building's frame, a trememdous figure emerges, standing at the roof's edge, a towering figure of green and purple.... Grimlock stomps his metal dino feet and roars as his body twists, tail splitting to become legs and arms and head emerging along with the familiar transmogrification sound. As all the little humans flee in terror from, well, basically everything, Grimlock wades forward with a determined look. He has to crane back to see Devastator, what with being so tall and everything, up on a building to boot. He stands there a moment, looking up at the view of the girder ramps going back and forth, back and forth, up higher and higher to a giant monster roaring at the top. Scratching his enormous head with one short tiny claw he says, "Me Grimlock think me see Springer play video game of this. Him Devastator going to throw down barrels soon!" he calls out in warning to the other dinobots. Looking around at the other Dinobots he can't help but grin as he says, "Dinobot's finally have something fun to do in big sand box thing! Me say we smash Devastator and then smash Constructicons! Me Grimlock gonna smash way more than other Dinobots!" Hey..it's inspiring if you're modelled after a prehistoric pea-brain! Grimlock jumps into the air, metal flashing and folding and twisting to sprout claws and teeth and tail, landing with a ground-shaking thud as the savage Tyrant Lizard emerges. Combat: Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> inspires Snarl and Scorch with uplifting and wise words! Solstice has arrived. Devestator! The unstoppable juggernaut of the Decepticons! Nightmare made real! Brute force that walks like a Transformer! However, to Snarl, the massive giant is effectively the thing that he was Born to Punch. The sad part is that, on some existential level this is probably true - his entire existance is pretty much defined as the guy who is in charge, in part, of punching things way, way too big, violent and/or scary for anyone else to. Is it any wonder why Snarl is always so grumpy? Then Grimlock lays down uplifting, wise words! Something about monkeys and barrels! Or something! Snarl isn't paying much attention. All he heard was 'Smash!'. Everthing else came out more like: "ME GRIMLOCK ARGLEBARGLEBARGLE." But it's enough. With a sound that is best described as "Uuuuurgh!", Snarl's pace quickens, dim, uninterested eyes suddenly gaining a frightening focus as he locates Decepti Kong. His laser rifle snaps and shifts into existance in his hand as he takes aim and fires while entering a full tilt charge. "Me Snarl take first blood. You Grimlock go play with barrels." Combat: Snarl strikes Devastator with its Laser attack! Solstice careens into the area in Koenigsegg mode, transforming up with a flash of sunset orange and chrome. The femme makes a darting dash through the teeming masses of people departing the area with all due haste, relying on her own internal flight systems to occasionally run up a bit of building to avoid losing speed. "Whoaaaah, I guess it *is* on like Donkey Kong!", she says mostly to herself while making her way towards the epicenter of the disorderly conduct, optics focused upwards at the flashes of green and purple gleaming through the skeletal building. Devastator towers over the cityscape as helicopters shine spotlights on him. The wind gusts up there are simply impressive, but it does not deter the great combiner. Next to him on the roof is a similarly impressive antenna of some sort. The newly built 'Omniglobus Communications Array', that had been lauded to deliver free wifi to the entire planet, as a final power play in favor of Net Neutrality...yes folks, that debate was STILL going on, until today. The great combiner rumbles, his powerful solar cannon raises up towards the helicopters. Light charges in the gun's barrel, a beam of light lashing forward to blind the helicopter. Pain would follow....EXCEPT that someone had the audacity to shoot back at him. It didn't even damage the great Devastator, but it DID garner his notice. He looms over the side of the scaffolding and structure to see..."RMMMMMHHHHH DINOBOTS." The hulking gestalt steps across the rooftop to the other side where, strangely enough as Grimlock predicted, a large pile of explosive barrels were cached. He grips a handful of them in his giant purple mitt, then throws them haphazardly into the street at them. Combat: Devastator strikes Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> with his Too obvious? Nahhhhh attack! -5 The barrell bounces on the way down, starting to leak before the impact with the ground near the Dinobot causes it to throw sparks, detonating the compressed fuel inside. The resulting explosion is cataclysmic, sending a shockwave up and down the street that shatters windows on buildings and cars both, knocking some of the late comers to 'run like the world is ending cause it is' sprawling to the ground from the shockwave alone. When the smoke clears in the sudden wind after the detonation though, Grimlock is standing there unphased, wiping soot from his snout and emitting a sneeze. "Why Devastator make Grimlock's nose itch!?" he demands in a frustrated, albeit just a bit whiney, sort of voice. Turning to the building he starts to stomp over that way more rapidly, heading for the switchback ramps heading up the massive towers, starting to plod along towards his eventual goal. No wonder the creatures he was modelled after went extinct! Well, that got the giant's attention. Oddly enough, it got Grimlock a facefull of barrels, fire, and explosions. Semi-ironic, and if Snarl cared about that kind of thing, then he'd probably enjoy that. Of course, you can count on irony, iambic pentameter, and onomatopoeia as being on the list of things that Snarl hates. He watches with abject passivity as the explosions go off, somehow managing to avoid the utter carnage with the brilliant Patton-esque tactic of standing still. The heat and pressure wash over him like a bad smell, and Snarl sniffs once, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand once in complete irritation. He may get more power in the sun, but nobody ever asked him if he was allergic to sand. Earth sand, no less. Snarl hates sand, which is probably the only thing he shares with Anakin Skywalker. But don't tell him that, because he hated the prequels. The swirling dut only causes him to rage further as he's soon pounding the pavement under his feet, charging towards and possibly past Grimlock up the ramps. "Me Snarl cut off Devastator's face! Use face as decorative table setting!" Snarl does like HGTV. Go figure. Solstice's a speedy thing, even in base mode. She may be lithe, but she isn't alightweight and as the explosion detonates, she hunkers down and braces herself, pulling her halberd out, sans heads to act as a point of which to push back against.As the dust clears, her optics alight on the Dinobots beginign to make their way towards the source ot this cycles disturbance. There's a gleam in her optics, perhaps a bit of mad scientist leaking out from whatever bastardized part her dad used to make that part of her anatomy. Door-wings flick-flex and she runs like her life depended on it towards Grimlock. "Grimlock!!!" Brief pause, "You give me a ride and I'll fly you up there. IN Rex mode." Systems already spinning off sub-routines to make the neccessary changes internally to provide the fule for the additional mass to anti-grav ratio needed to haul such a large mech upwards in addition ot herself. "You, me, lance. Wanna joust?" She waves the stave. Grimlock takes a second to register the new presence, turning and looking confused at Solstice, "Where you come from!?" he asks, knowing she wasn't with the tour group. He thinks. Then she's spouting something about riding him and flying..as a dinosaur. "ME GRIMLOCK TOLD SKY LYNX IT WORK!!!!" he cries out happily, hunkering down a bit for her. He doesn't know what jousting is..and apparently doesn't care! He's gonna fly! <'Autobot'> Grimlock says, "Him Dino-bird not know nothing!!!" Devastator grumbles for a moment, then steps away from the ledge. He had other priorities. "ASTROTRAIN...." The combiner calls out, his voice echoing through the area, "DINOBOTS CAN NOT DEFEAT THE INVINCIBLE DEVASTATOR!" He hunches over, glaring down at the warrior Snarl, even as he makes his way up the steps, ramps and...broken ladders up the building infrastructure. The great gestalt grasps at the building's roof on one edge, then lifts, prying up metal beams, gridwork and base plates, sending them spilling. "NONE OVERPOWER THE MIGHT OF DEVASTATOR!" I-Beams and metal sheets rain down on the Dinobots and Solstice, sending death and pain below. Combat: Devastator strikes Snarl with his LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN! Area attack! -2 Combat: Devastator strikes Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> with his LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN! Area attack! -2 And somehow completely misses Solstice. Must've been a writer problem. Not at all was it a writer error, no, Grimlock (thanks to an animator realizing the mistake) actually shoved forward over top of Solstice, keeping her from getting smashed by the falling debris. Then he's hunkered down waiting for his jet pac...err..rider.. Solstice wasn't quite where the large chunk of debris came crashing down (yay animation error). As it kicks up dust, dirt and sends out its deadly gifts of shards of metal, the lithe orange femme drops to her knees to slide underneath Grimlock!! "Cross channeling systems, mass to gravametrics ratios recalibrating and..." She rolls out from under the ginormous t-rex, backs up a few steps before running at him, pole-vaulting onto his lower neck, maglocking herself into position. Her systems trip the quickly coded over-ride, pushing power from a system marked 'in case of emergencies' to 'Fly bay-by fly'. There's a handshake ping across channels nominally used for medical checks submitted to Grimlock'''s own systems for synchronization. The stave comes down, tip flickering as the energy-head reforms to a more lance-like leaf-tip. Putting a pair of steampunk-esque goggles over her optics (the display on the inside monitoring the sync and her override program along with other items), "Lets go, go go!!". There may be a tingly feeling as the anti-gravametric field pulses out from the sunset orange femme, enfolding '''Grimlock within it's range. The Dinobot Desert Warrior's heavily armored hide is more than enough to withstand many attacks. Decepticons quake at the sight of the red and gold armor, and Snarl's viciousness in combat is legendary. That being said, this is Devastator, a machine so powerful, so brutal, so stupid as to not realize who he's dealing with. This, and only this, is the reason that the world goes black with a series horrible clanks and bangs. It is also the only reason Snarl wakes up with a girder sticking out of his chest. "Uuuh..." comes Snarl's witty repartee, his massive hands tearing the thing out of his chest with a morbid burst of fuel spurting from something that's ruptured. Still, nothing vital is broken and he's still capable of moving at a considerable clip. Staggering forward from the shaking and quaking of the tower, Snarl finally takes a knee, and then is hurtling through the air. At the apex of his flight, Snarl transforms! The grinding gears sound is louder than usual (the hole in his chest gives better acoustics) as he spinds downward, his spiked tail going in to smash into Devastator's giant lunchbox of a head! The bot's middle twists, arms rotating, legs, head and tail popping out to reveal a stego Combat: Stegosaurus <'Snarl'> strikes Devastator with its Combiner Crusher attack! Grimlock takes much more of the brunt of the damage than Solstice does, considering she uses him as a giant T-Rex umbrella. Fair enough, he's using her as a jetpack soon after all. He staggered from the weight of the debris hitting him, having to push up through it and shrugging the pieces off still as the femme vaults into position on his back. "What that!?" he asks trying to crane his head around, before hearing her, "oh, me forgot for second.." he admits as he waits. He feels the strange tingling and looks around, "Me flying!?" he says excitedly, before looking down and realizing he's not moving yet. "Hey! Orange girl say me fly if she get ride!" he accuses, unconsciously kicking in the flight system as he thinks about it, those handshakes across their systems occurring far below his level of awareness. Or above..point being it's not ON his level. He's ten full meters off the ground before he realizes, "Oh! Oh! Me Grimlock am flying!" And indeed, now that everything is hooked up, he lumbers into the air, gaining agility slowly. Snarl gets up ahead of him, but as Grimlock starts to rise he starts to hum out loudly, "DUh duh duh duh duhhhh duhhh, dun duh duh duh duhhh duhhhh, dun doo doo deeee dooo, dun dunh dunh dunnnhhhhhh!" in a passable imitation of a drunk playing Flight of the Valkyries, soaring towards Devastator in a mighty charge, swooping in close and belching fire towards the giant city-smashing robot! As he flies around to one side he calls out, "Me Grimlock can get used to this!" Combat: Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> strikes Devastator with his Fire Breath attack! Devastator stands there, looming, waiting, as his new prey approach. With only two of them here, and someone riding dino-back, it was easy. Too easy. The giant gestalt's visor flickers with light. All things were easy to this powerhouse, none simply compared against his might. He has stood tall against the likes of Omega Supreme, Sky Lynx, and Wheelie that one time he got an enormous body...And Devastator stood over the charred remains of each, due to selective memory. Snarl charges in first, using his own version of car-fu, by smashing into him in midair. The impact staggers Devastator, taking the hit right to his shin. Mixmaster wasn't going to be happy about that. The chemical tank hisses as it leaks out various deadly chemicals over the ground before him. Then suddenly Grimlock appears, breathing flame upon him. The fire washes over the great Devastator, and emerges unscathed...except for that sticker on his shoulder which is now TOTALLY charred. So...so there's that. He raises up his Scrapper leg, casting an ill shadow over Snarl, then drives the leg down on him, intent on sending him back down to Earth.....LITERALLY! Combat: Devastator strikes Stegosaurus <'Snarl'> with his THIRD FLOOR MEN'S WARE SECOND FLOOR FURNITURE FIRST FLOOR...YOU! attack! -2 "Orange girl hang on tight!" Grimlock calls back as he climbs to a higher altitude, getting way over top of Devastator. That looked fairly effective, what with the way Snarl got smashed and such, and so he decides to give it his own try. Or maybe the real reason he was so excited about being able to fly in the first place was exactly this. It's the sort of thing that haunts his wildest and fondest dreams, not to mention that it fits in exactly with a certain video game he may or may not be emulating. So he ends up high above Devastator, with poor Solstice his captive audience. "Me came in like a wreeeeecking balllllllll!" he calls out as he stops thinking about flying and plummets down towards Devastator at an alarming speed, massive feet aimed straight at the huge hulking monstrosity. The impact with whatever he eventually hits is a jarring thing, and he flies away a bit wobbly as he says, "Me Grimlock forget rest of song..it sound like Kup singing anyway.." Combat: Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> strikes Devastator with his yep...he's a classical music critic attack! Snarl doesn't exactly flatten like a pancake, but the sound is pretty horrific. Metal plates and armor shatter, cascading to the ground like scales. The glittering array of heat exchange sails on the Dinobot's back are mangled and bent. While the stomp doesn't totally drive him through the floor, it does a pretty good job of sending most of him through to the point that the massive stegosaurus is hanging on with his front claws. These are not what you call "gripping" claws. The stubby appendages are barely able to keep him from falling through. The only reason Snarl is able to scramble his way up is when Grimlock sails in with what is surely a sonic attack as well as a physical one. Snarl's body is leaking profusely, and his transformation systems are shot. His mind is filled not with grim resolve, not with indignation, but furnace-hot rage. The boiling, seeting fury dances in the mechanical monster's eyes as he wheels around, and hurls against the back of Devestator's knee, as if to smash the appendange clean off. "ME AM HATE MILEY CYRUS!" Combat: Stegosaurus <'Snarl'> strikes Devastator with its Thagomizer attack! Solstice's focus is split, it has to be to maintain the sync for Grimlock to effectivly control the flight systems - with a little steering from the femme. Her optics aren't their usual brilliant blue as she feeds the beast, as it were. As Grimlock swoops in for his fly-by flaming, she clings to his neck like a clam, lance held firmly. "Hangin' on!" she calls out. Grimlock's impact with Devastator almost makes her lose her lance but maglocks are wonderful things. Leaning back, she pulls a holdout pistol out and fires back over her shoulder at the behemouth, "Heey Captain Rex, your buddy's not lookin' so hot over there!" Combat: Solstice strikes Devastator with her Tiny gun is annoying (Pistol) attack! Devastator staggers forward when Grimlock, repeating a move from the movie apparently, puts the ole size 200s' to Devastator's back. The assault so unexpected, he staggers forwards. Gears and gyros make whirring, shifting his incredible power from one spot to another. Snarl breaks out the ole Thagomizer, burying it into Mixmaster again, cracking that mixer even further. He stumbles, going down to one knee as Solstice cracks off a shot at his armor. His hand smashes into the ground, just left of the gaping hole where Snarl was recently punted. The sheer strength of his, sends his hand crashing through, leaving him partially stuck in the hole, wordlessly growling as he starts to right himself. A shuttle zips by the area, far enough away to avoid the firefight, but visible on the skyline <<"Hey-yah, Devastator, quit playing around and wax these guys. We're on a schedule. >> Astrotrain gripes, as he zips past the area with remarkable agility, then ascends again back into a holding pattern in the clouds. <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Heeey Captian Rex, charge'em! I've got a lance, let's joust." "Me Grimlock not CAPTAIN Rex, me Grimlock KING REX!" he reminds Solstice indignantly, before glancing down towards Snarl. "Snarl not gonna like that, him hate it when not looking hot.." It's really a fair bet, let's be honest, Snarl hates almost everything that isn't HGN. It's a completely fair assumption that he'll hate not looking hot. As Devastator smashes down to one knee and his hand goes through the top of the building, Grimlock grins. "Me getting one of those head picture things!" he calls out, dropping down towards the building, selecting the area behind Devastator to hover in. Then he suddenly shoots down, charging in a method much like a joust, though he doesn't realize that. It probably gives her the opening she was looking for though, as he tries to do enough damage not to Devastator particularly, but to the poor besieged building beneath the giant, to cause the massive Decepticon combiner to completely cave in the rooftop. Really, who is dumb enough to actually INVITE the Dinbots to their city!? Combat: Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> strikes Devastator with his Super Dino Rocket Smash Charging Joust Ground Buster Mega Attack attack! So, the monster is immobilized! As damaged as he is, Snarl is able to sort of limp-cirlce around the deadly combiner, glaring with all the raw loathing he can muster, which is pretty impressive this side of Slag. All the things Snarl hates rush through his brain like coins being belched from the slot machine of rage. He hates green. He hates purple. He hates diesel fumes! He hates Scrapper, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Hook, and Bonecrusher. Scavenger not so much, because he's kind of useless. "GRIMLOCK!" Bellows the battered stegosaurus robot. "ME AM NOT FEELING SO HOT! ME AM NOT REALLY HAPPY WITH THAT!" As Grimlock plummets like a stone again, Snarl charges forward, swinging his bulk at the last moment to smash his tail against the green giant's stuck arm, at the elbow joint. "YOU AM NOT LIKE SNARL WHEN HE NOT HAPPY!" Then the poor, belligerent bastard falls down the effing hole made by the giant flying tyrannosaurus. Goddamn you, Grimlock. This is why nobody invites you to any of the cool parties. Combat: Stegosaurus <'Snarl'> strikes Devastator with its Combiner Crusher attack! Solstice's ride decides to go building-busting."Names Solstice, not girl." She quips back. "Head picture thin-uhoh" A blink and she's 'standing' a bit on Grimlock'''s neck, still maglocked into place, internal systems letting her know that things are not normal but they are stable, yes. Back her arm goes, stave glimmering, and as Grimlock almost hits the combinder, she throws it like an energy-headed Javalin. Combat: '''Solstice strikes Devastator with her Javalin Toss! attack! <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Hey Grimlock, King Rexie? I gotta do somethin- you're about to lose th' flight hi-jinks." Combat: Solstice compares her Agility to 50: Success! Devastator starts to pull himself up, just in time for Grimlock to smash into him again, bucking half the roof of the building. Even the radio transmitter up here shifts and groans as the Dinobot solution of 'Put more weight on it' seems to be working. Still Devastator resists, planting his arms on the structure's flooring to stand up...Snarl throws himself, kamikaze at that joint and smashes into Devastator's arm, before sending him down into the building's framework. The ground creaks, and perhaps in their brains, it may come to pass that everyone gets the idea that perhaps fighting atop an unfinished building is not exactly safe. Devastator turns, his giant, purple hand reaching for Grimlock....and then the top floor starts to cave in in his area. Girders fly past as Grimlock and Devastator start to tumble down within the framework. The giant gestalt drifts backwards to the outer wall, only to smash through several girders, denting himself tremendously. Yet even with the smash and crash of falling, his gaze still focuses on his enemy, GRIMLOCK! The giant draws his solar rifle and takes aim. Suddenly the gun goes flying as a crosspiece to the structure disarms Devastator. The two hit a completed floor with a cacophony of sound, debris and wreckage, and continue through it, without missing a beat. Grabbing an errant wideflange, Devastator smashes it at Grimlock, bellowing. "DESTROY DINOBOTS! DESTROY..GRIMLOCK! PREPARE...FOR YOUR ANNIHILATION!" Combat: Devastator strikes Robot T-Rex! <'Grimlock'> with his WE'LL SETTLE THIS LIKE MECHS. I-BEAMS AT DAWN! attack! -4 Grimlock stomps his metal dino feet and roars as his body twists, tail splitting to become legs and arms and head emerging along with the familiar transmogrification sound. Combat: Devastator damages himself. Solstice's mind, a beautiful thing created by one of the Autobots foremost scientists has it's own quirks. While part of her processing is currently assigned to the sync, the other part, brilliant in it's own fashion, is mining for data. Her optics widen and she transmits a warning to Grimlock before she unlocks herself, pushing away from the mightly dinobot. The sudden access to her full computing capacity does shift her into a tight spin upwards, systems recalibrating quicksilver fast. The withdrawel of her flight support may seem to be a poor tactical choice to the unknowing, considering it leaves Grimlock on his own for any falls. The top of the building is a desolate war study in demolitions and debris, holes here and there gestalt and dinobot sized like empty pits of shattered architechts dreams. She gives a shake of her head and drops to a semi-stable portion, rummaging through subspace as she thinks she remembers having something.. Yeah. This should do... Thank Primus for short instruction stickers as she isn't a demolitions person by no means but this device is meant for the rank and file to use, lifted from the depths, liberated from the empires finist shipping fleet. "Gonna have t' make a boom." Combat: Solstice takes extra time to steady herself. Pass It's a good thing that Solstice is still functioning in an 'intelligent' capacity, because let's face it, Grimlock is on pure old fashioned kill mode. He doesn't even notice that he's not flying anymore, after all, he was going to chase Devastator anyway! He meant to drop the giant robot through the floor. What he hadn't meant to do was to get wailed upon with an i-beam on the way down. The hit crashes in the chest of his dinosaur armor, even as thick as it is, and snaps both of those tiny arms like they were toothpicks, the Dinobot tumbling back UP end over end for a moment. Transforming as he's flying upwards, he ends up in robot mode, energon trailing behind him as he rockets down as fast as he can towards Devastator's chest. His huge sword in hand looks tiny compared to the chest of the giant he treads upon, but he begins to slam and strike at the huge combiner's chest, his mighty arms slamming down with that blade over and over again as he roars out his defiance in the form of incoherent rage! Combat: Grimlock strikes Devastator with his let's see how deep this chasm goes! attack! Devastator smashes into another floor of the tower, a level of windows simply EXPLODE when Devastator slams into it, the entire foundation of the building starts to fold in on itself. Even as Solstice sets her timer on the roof, the building starts to lean.... The shuttle, Astrotrain, roars in closer to the battlefield, trailing twin contrails from his wingtips, < see it, I got it!...No thanks to you all, but I've got it! >> Meanwhile, Grimlock and Devastator continue their free-falling battle. Grimlock's sword plunges into Devastator's chest. The gestalt shrieks wordlessly, clawing at Grimlock as the Dinobot stabs at him a second time. The walls close in as the building's framework gets more and more completed, which explodes again as if in a Michael Bay film, sending Devastator rolling forwards in freefall. The positions change, Devastator on high, and now Grimlock below him. He reaches out again, "UNDEFEATED! NOW...NOW YOU DIE!" The combiner grabs the Dinobot and simply squeezes. Despite Grimlock's great strength and legendary endurance, would he fall here and now, as the two rapidly approach the ground? Devastator snarls, a mighty bellow that echoes through downtown as servos rend precious Dinobot armor in his hands of steel. The ground looms before them as they smash into several more stories of finished building, all the time Devastator's battle cry mixes with his enemy, as he attempts to plant him face-first into the ground! Combat: Devastator damages himself. Combat: Devastator misses Grimlock with his ENDGAME DINOBOT! attack! -4 <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Heeey King Rexie! With th' damage this buildings had done t' it, this next thing might just bring th' house down. Get out now!" Solstice sends off another signal as she reviews the sleek, segmented cylinder she's retrieved from subspace. Optics narrow a bit, expression shades grim. "This.. is gonna really makea mess.." She drops to the base of the antennae, settling in on a knee, door-wings flicking nervously and aiding her baance as this building doesn't seem quite level anymore. One hand holds the demo charge gingerly, the other pulls her medkit out of subspace, looking for.. ah yes.. an industrial sized roll of duct-tape. It has a light side, a dark side and keeps the universe together. Being cautious not to set off the timer just yet, she straps the device to a support leg, head height for her then takes a step back, eying the work. Kit is stowed and she darts back in, tapping a few keys on the boom-stick before leaping upwards and calling out "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... There's a crackling at the leg of the antenae as the device begins its dastardly work, an electrical numbus surrounding it, tapping into the combustables inside. Were one watching it, one may see miniscule flames licking out of microscopic cracks, white-blue in their intensity. 4 3 There's a blooming numbus of energy like a corona of hurt that's bleeding into the air around the antennae now, vusibly cooling to orange-red ripples. 2 1 ~--SZZZT-THWHUMP--~ Astrotrain veers in close towards the radio array, his cargo bay door opening... and then the entire thing explodes before him, << Ah...taking that back, I don't got it! I'm out...good luck there with those Dinobots. I'll let Soundwave know you failed. >> The shuttle raises its nose up, and swings right back out of the scene. Grimlock's armor is being torn off and bouncing around into the freefall around him. Something in his radio crackles, but that's not really much of a distraction for him as Devastator punched him in the head and the radio isn't working anymore. The ground is coming up remarkably fast, and then Devastator gives him the opening he needs. Sword cuts upwards, knocking one of the pawing combiner claws away as Grimlock rushes up the chest towards the head of the beast. As he goes, he throws his head back and bellows, "ME GRIMLOCK! ME NOT DIE! ME SMASH FACE!" as he pulls his huge rocket launcher pistol out of subspace, pointing it right at Devastator's gigantic head. He doesn't even hesitate as he pulls the trigger mercilessly, actually seeming to think he's winning as they crash down. Combat: Grimlock strikes Devastator with his Galaxial Rocket Launcher attack! Combat: Devastator strikes Grimlock with his ROCKS FALL EVERYONE DIES attack! -6 The building shrieks and groans, the rampant explosions and damage to it take their toll. Beam after beam start to give way, tumbling down into the middle of the structure, using the enormous hole created as a means to an end. Shrapnel, plates, flooring, windows. The entire building shudders and simply collapses upon itself, sending up an enormous cloud of dust and detrius that will haunt Dubai for a week. The smoke clears after several minutes, nothing but an enormous amount of rubble where once stood a skyscraper. A large sheet of drywall crumbles....a pipe clangs to the ground, and a figure emerges from the rubble. There's a massive grinding noise as a huge slab is pushed out of the way, knocking things over as it's toppled. Then a moment later, Grimlock comes stomping out from under the shadow, a giant green something clutched in his hands and used as a lever to get the rubble off of himself. The smoke still whirls and billows around him as he stomps away, not even bothering to look back at where the Constructicon's are buried beneath all of that rubble. The green something appears to be the long arm of a crane, a hook dangling from the end of it still and the bottom showing it's been ripped off of it's mount. He carries it over his shoulder as he walks away from the pit of rubble and destruction. Looking around as he walks, Grimlock takes time to admire the carnage of the area. The buildings around the battle are damaged, windows blown out, smoke pouring from many of them. The entire area's a mass of devastation and debris, the sound of sirens off in the distance headed towards the carnage audible. There's a low chuckle from the Dinobot as he walks, heading back towards the convention center. Snarl will be along at some point, Dinobots are invincible after all. "Me Grimlock change mind..me love this town!" he calls out happily, walking off into the sunset with the hook dangling behind him, swaying with his steps. "Hmm..wonder where orange girl get off to.." he muses as he does. Solstice drops down from the skies above, optics wide at the sheer -damage- the charge delivered. She circles once then lands, featherlight next to the crane bit toting dinobot. "That.. was -awesome-! Can we do it again?!"